Reason (May contain spoilers):Anne describes her body to her diary in some detail.

My Rating:3.5 out of 5 stars

Why:While it was very interesting I, unfortunately, am not much for non-fiction books. It was a very good learning experience and I would recommend that everyone should read it to know what these people went through during the Holocaust.

My Review: Anne Frank is a, as she often refers to herself, coming of age girl during the Holocaust. She starts her diary shortly before her family is forced to go into hiding from the Germans. She and her mother, father, and sister go to a secret Annex along with the van Daan family and family friend Mr. Dussel. The Annex is in her Father’s warehouse hidden behind a secret door in one of the offices. She writes to Kitty (her diary) explaining how things work in the Annex and how they keep hidden. The sacrifices the must make and their daily schedule, along with her own personal entries discussing her own changing emotions as she gets older. As I stated before, I do recommend that everyone reads this book at some point in their lives even though they might not particularly care for non-fiction books.

Holly Black is a best-selling author of contemporary fantasy novels for kids, teens, and adults. She is the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series (Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside), The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), and The Good Neighbors graphic novels (with Ted Naifeh) The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, a collection of short fiction, and The Curse Worker series (White Cat, Red Glove, and Black Heart). She is also the co-editor of three anthologies, Geektastic (with Cecil Castellucci), Zombies vs. Unicorns (with Justine Larbalestier), and Welcome to Bordertown (with Ellen Kushner). Her most recent works are the middle grade novel, Doll Bones, and the dark fantasy stand-alone, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library.

About Cassandra Clare:

(Found on her Goodreads Page)

Hello Goodreadsers. Here’s my official bio:

“Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts.”

My Age Rating:8 & up (for possibly hard to pronounce words)

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

First Line: From a distance. the man struggling up the white face of the glacier might have looked like an ant crawling slowly up the side of a dinner plate.

My Description:

Most kids want to pass the Iron Trail. They would do anything. But Callum Hunt would do anything to fail. Warned by his father not to practice magic. His father knows that if he passes the Iron Trial and goes to the Magisterium that bad things will happen. So he does his worst on the test but is still selected to attend the Magisterium. He has no idea what awaits him behind the Magisterium’s stone gate but it can’t be good for him.

My Review:

Such an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down. I loved the descriptions of the Magisterium and the magical creatures in and around it. It had twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting. I loved the idea of the main character not being the “perfect hero” type. He wasn’t the strong athlete who is great at everything. He had to overcome weaknesses and learn how to use his magic since had never really used it before. I would recommend this book for anyone who likes books with magic and adventure in them.

New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.

All of Maggie Stiefvater’s life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you’re a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she’s tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She’s made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki.

My age rating: 12 and up. Some mild gory scenes and some hard to pronounce words.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

First Line: (Sean): “It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”

~The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater

My Description:Every November, the riders try to stay on their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some live, and others die. These are the Scorpio Races. Welcome to Thisby.

Main male character Sean Kendrick is the returning champion of the last four years. He has been around water horses most of his life. His dad was in the races, too. His mount in the races is the blood-red water horse Corr.

Main female character Kate (Puck) Connolly has never rode in the Scorpio Races. She doesn’t want to. But they don’t have enough money to keep their house. So she enters the race with her mare Dove. She is the first girl to be in the races and the only one who will not be riding a water horse. Her advantage. Her horse isn’t trying to kill everyone else to get back in the water.

My Review:Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races was incredible. 5 stars for sure. The story was one I had never heard of before. I loved the descriptions of the island, characters, and horses. I also like that it didn’t seem like the races were the only part of the story. She really went into the preparations they have to go through and also what was happening in their lives that put them in the races. I was lucky enough to meet Maggie while I was reading the book and I got it autographed. I was the youngest person there and one of the few who asked her a question. (I asked which character [Sean or Puck] was her favorite. Her reply: She asked all the moms in the audience which of their kids was their favorite.) Because of this, she drew a quick doodle of a horse in my book.

First Line: “I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper.”

Description: The oceans rose, swallowing up the lowlands. After The Rising, humans were forced to live in stack cities with very little space of their own. The only people who have any space own their own are the sub-sea colonists, the Dark Life.

Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea on the family farm. In fact, Ty was the first to ever be born sub-sea. After his families homestead is raided by outlaws, he is joined by a Topside girl named Gemma in a struggle to save the only home he has ever known.

Review: Dark Life is Kat Falls debut novel and it was amazing.The story got me hooked in the 1st chapter with interesting descriptions and well written, suspensful action. The descriptions and imagination put into the sub-sea creatures and the explanation of the underwater homesteads is spectacular. This book is a fast read for younger kids (8 and up) but does have some mild violence and gory scenes. It has good humor and next to zero “romantic” scenes (one kissing scene) and minor drug usage (tobacco and smoking).

I hope this review was helpful and that you enjoy the book as much as I did.

The Last of the Mohicans (The Leatherstocking Tales #2)

The Leatherstocking Tales #1 – #5 (#1 The Deerslayer, #3 The Pathfinder, #4 The Pioneers, #5 The Prarie), The Spy, The Red Rover, and more.

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.

“It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts would meet.”

The Last of the Mohicans barely received a four star rating because it takes a while to get into. Remember this is an older book so the language has changed quite a bit. Also, there were some parts where Native Amerian language was used but not translated. The hardest part however was getting into the story. I will tell you that the first chapter of this book is 95% description. Also, after you stop reading it can be slow when you start again. However, the book was very good and I would recommend it to anyone of or over the age of 15-16. This, because of the previously mentioned slight over description and slow parts along with the fact that the chapters are long and there is small print in both copies I have seen. The story had good morals, humor, sad parts, and of course, for the type of book it is, the traitorous and purely evil bad guy and his group.

You may notice that most of these books are relatively short, That is because I fell behind on my Goodreads reading goal of 52 books (I am currently 18 behind). Hopefully I can finish them all in time.

At my Church we have been going over the Book of Revelations. And my Pastor is really good about explaining what is generally thought about parts of the scripture and then saying what he thinks about the section. I really like what he had to say about this verse.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelations 3:15-16 NKJV

Today I am heading off to Scout Camp for almost a week and am asking God to keep watch over me and my family.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.” Psalm 91: 1-3

Sorry I’m getting this posted late, but I’ve had a busy week – end, and though it is a long verse, it really got my attention and I thought I should share it with the rest of you.

“Another parable He put forth to them saying ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’“Matthew 13:31 & 32